The present invention relates to a device that will allow photographic films to be automatically loaded into developing machines.
The prior art embraces developing machines by which photographic films are processed continuously and automatically.
Initially, these machines were employed principally in professional photographic laboratories for developing large quantities of photographic material.
Thereafter, it became a trend for such machines to be likewise utilized in non-specialist commercial enterprises, for example large stores or supermarkets. This trend has given rise to a demand for machines with increasing levels of automation, which require minimal manning and which can be operated easily even by staff possessing no special skills or with no particular training.
Nonetheless, the operation of loading photographic film into current developing machines is effected normally by hand and brought about conventionally in one of two ways, namely, without or with the aid of a take-up device commonly referred to as a leader. In the first instance, the end of the film is trimmed by being manually cut transversely, the film is then inserted directly into a suitable device by which it is drawn into the machine, and then the film is fed through the chemical treatment baths of the machine and the successive drying chamber by rollers of a flexible material which engage the lateral edges of the film. In the second instance, by contrast, the end of the film is joined to the leader by which the film is then drawn into the machine and is fed along the selfsame path in a conventional manner.
The first solution, while simple, requires that the film be trimmed with a certain precision. When this is done, the roll of film to be developed must be positioned in a suitable light-excluding container with the trimmed end inserted in a suitable gripping device in readiness for introduction into the machine. Then, finally, the light-excluding container is closed and the operating cycle can begin.
If the insertion step is not effected with sufficient precision, the strip of film may run askew to a greater or lesser degree in relation to the prescribed path, or alternatively, the lateral edges of the film can become damaged due to various possible causes which likewise results in the strip of film subsequently deviating from the prescribed path. Consequently, the film itself will suffer irreparable damage.
The second solution on the other hand is found normally to be laborious and difficult: indeed the operator must join the initial part of the roll of photographic film to the leader by which it is guided into the developing machine, and generally this operation requires that the take-up tongue afforded by the roll of film be cut by hand initially in such a way as to obtain a faultlessly squared end which then must be matched with the tail end of the leader and secured thus by the application, likewise by hand, of suitable lengths of adhesive tape. If the end of the film in question is not correctly cut or not accurately joined to the tail end of the leader, the film will also be drawn askew into the developing machine and can stray from its prescribed path, consequently suffering damage.